Botswana Wants to Ship 115 Million Tons of Coal to Asian Buyers

By Felix Njini -
Mar 19, 2014

Botswana plans to ship 115 million
metric tons of coal per year within a decade to meet growing
demand in China and India, the country’s chamber of mines said.

Exports would start at 65 million tons when the 1,500
kilometer (932 mile) Trans-Kalahari railway linking Mmamabula
coalfields with the port of Walvis Bay in Namibia is completed
in five years, Charles Siwawa, chief executive officer of the
Botswana Chamber of Mines, said in an interview today. That
could be increased by 77 percent within three years, he said.

“There is a window of opportunity that we see in the
markets in China and India and that is the market we are aiming
for,” said Siwawa, who was in Walvis Bay to attend the signing
of an agreement between Namibia and Botswana to build the line.

The construction of an $15 billion railway connecting
landlocked Botswana’s biggest coal-mining region to an upgraded
port in neighboring Namibia will allow the southern African
country to access Asian markets, said Minerals, Energy and Water
Minister Onkokame Mokaila. The agreement between Botswana and
Namibia established a jointly owned company to administer the
development of the railway line by private investors.

“This rail link will monetize Botswana’s established
resources of an estimated 12 billion tons of coal,” Mokaila
said in a speech in Walvis Bay. “Coal will continue to be a
source of power for some time to come; it will continue to be
one of the cheapest sources of power.”